Dark Prophecy
by Golden Fenix
Summary: Long ago, the Great Hyne sealed away the dark sorceress in the hope of removing her forever from this world. Now, 5000 years later, the dark sorceress stirs in her sleep - the time of the Dark Prophecy is near.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters; Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartily, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, Edea Kramer, Cid Kramer, Hyne, Seifer Almasy, Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill, Ward Zabac, Ellone, Raine, Raijin, Fujin, Watts, and Zone (or any others which I may have missed). 

**Author's Notes:** Any comments, suggestions or queries are welcome. This is the prologue of a story that I have titled 'Dark Prophecy', but this could also serve as a story on its own, I suppose. ^_^ Anyway… enjoy!

Dark Prophecy - Prologue Because I could not stop for Death, 

He kindly stopped for me; The carriage held but just ourselves

And Immortality

-- Emily Dickson (The Chariot)

She walked alone through the town. In her hand she gripped a wooden staff. At the top, on the flat of the staff, a beautifully carved phoenix spread its wings majestically, the golden gems in its eyes glittering. Glossy black hair fell in smooth ringlets down her back, from which two delicately shaped wings grew; the mark of a powerful Sorceress. She was garbed in a black robe, woven of shadows, with a silver belt fastened around her waist.

The cobblestones beneath her feet were stained with sticky rivers of blood. Nausea twisted Hyne's stomach at the sight of the mangled bodies that lay scattered on the street around her, dark in the light of a fading sunset. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself, but the stench of death was thick upon the air and she blinked away the tears that stung at the corners of her grey eyes. 

Kneeling down beside the lifeless body of a small boy, she drew him gently into her arms and brushed some of his hair from his face. His eyes were wide and staring – frozen in the same terrified stare that had been on his face when he died. Hyne sighed sadly and gently brushed his eyes closed. Kissing him on the forehead, she laid him down reverently and stood up, her head still bowed. Glittering tears leaked down her face, splashing almost silently onto the cobblestones.

"Do my eyes deceive me? The Great Hyne - _crying_?"

Hyne stiffened at the mocking voice, but didn't turn around. "What do you want, Odyis?"

"Ah. Indeed you are," the voice continued from behind her. "I never thought I'd see the day –" Odyis never got to finish her sentence; Hyne spun around and swatted her across the face, fingernails scoring the flesh of her cheek. Odyis took a step back in surprise, touching her hand to her left cheek to determine the extent of the damage. 

"Why did you do it? What did they ever do to you?" Hyne snarled through gritted teeth. Odyis looked up to stare at her insolently, blood leaking from four shallow grooves on her face. She drew her hand away from her cheek and stared at the crimson fluid on her fingers almost incredulously.

"Blood?" She glanced at Hyne slyly. "So. Not even Sorceresses are immune to bleeding."

Hyne returned the stare. "And not even Sorceresses are immortal."

Odyis curled her upper lip over teeth in distaste. Then, regaining her composure, she smirked. "You would challenge me?" Amber eyes glinting, her right hand travelled almost unconsciously to the hilt of the sword sheathed by her waist.

Hyne lifted a dark eyebrow. "You have need for a weapon?"

The other Sorceress laughed. "You are a fool, Hyne; believing that magic is enough to defeat me. My sword skills are ten times better then those of Odin himself, and, combined with my magic, I cannot be defeated. But since you are so insistent, let us do battle and decide who shall be the victor." She closed her eyes and the world around them shimmered; the shops and lampposts lining the bloodstained street rippled like the surface of a moonlit river and blurred into oblivion. They stood no more than four feet apart, alone in a vast field of emptiness, with nothing but the soft stirring of eternity sounding in their ears.

Odyis drew her sword from its sheath and spread her dark crow-wings majestically. Her eyes snapped up, blazing blue light erupting from her pupils. The steel blade of her weapon seemed to flicker in the light and take on a burning appearance. It was then that Hyne saw the words engraved upon it:

_Excitate vos e somno, liberi mei_

She tightened her grip on her staff, only briefly wondering what they meant. The phoenix's eyes seemed to glitter more brightly then ever, and Hyne felt the light pulse in time to her heart.

"So I suppose you want to know why," Odyis said, the faintest hint of a smile curling her lips. "Why I killed them; why I destroyed a race." She spun around, slashing the burning sword horizontally. Hyne barely reacted in time; the eyes of the phoenix flared, and Odyis was thrown back twenty feet, knocked back by the magical barrier. Odyis snarled and climbed to her feet, her auburn hair somewhat tousled and slipping out of its neat ponytail.

"So," she said, "Your powers have developed, sister."

Hyne lowered her staff. "Why did you do it?"

Either Odyis didn't hear her, or she felt no need to answer the question so quickly; she flicked the tip of her sword, sending a crescent-shaped wave of speeding fire at Hyne, who created another barrier. The flickering barrier barely saved her from the onslaught.

"I did it because I had to," Odyis growled. "They hated us, Hyne. We are Sorceresses – condemned by the rulers, and feared by the common people. There was no place for us in that world. Look at the possibilities, Hyne – we can build a new world, resurrecting the dead and manipulating with them as we please. It shall be a place of terror, abundant with death… for we truly shall give them something to fear."

"And what makes you think that I'd be interested in this proposition?"

Her sister laughed. "Hyne, Hyne, Hyne; it's obvious to you that you can't win – and you don't have the power to revive the dead. It's only if we combine our powers that you even had a chance of seeing that child again."

Remembering the child, Hyne's anger flamed once more. "Don't you dare talk about that child! You abused your power! Sorceresses were not created to harness their powers and use them to destroy – they are the teachers of the ancient stories, and the bearers of magic." 

An ugly look worked its way onto Odyis' fine features. "Are you're saying that I'm a freak?"

Hyne saw her tightening her grip on the burning sword. "I'm sorry, Odyis," she said, not answering her question. "I have no choice. I have to do this for the sake of these people, and for yours." The eyes of the phoenix perched upon her staff glowed a deep, pulsing red, forming a shimmering aura around Hyne and Odyis.

"W-what are you doing!?" Odyis demanded angrily. She tried to cast a Shell, and her eyes grew fearful when she discovered that her powers had been disabled.

"Something I should have done a long time ago." Hyne wove her hands through the air in an intricate design, then drew them together, as though in prayer.

Angry and confused, Odyis gave a scream of rage after her second attempt at a spell, and charged at Hyne, brandishing her sword. Hyne did not look up as Odyis drew closer; the aura grew brighter, and as the sword came in contact with the light, there was a sudden silence as time ground to a halt. They were two separate beings, standing in a place where time had no meaning, and eternity slept. Then, like a porcelain vase falling to the floor, Odyis shattered. There was no blood – all that was left of her were just bright pinpoints of light. Her sword fell to the ground. The sharp words engraved on the blade glowed menacingly for a moment before the light died. The air around Hyne shimmered, and she found herself back in the streets of carnage and death, the cobblestones beneath her feet still slick with blood.

She took a deep breath and beckoned the lights towards her with a trembling hand. Once again, Hyne drew her hands together, head inclined. The town became bathed in a soft white light; the bodies littering the streets seemed to shimmer… and she revived them.

The people seemed to be confused – with no recollection of the slaughter or their past lives. Of course, Hyne thought, their memories had been lost in death. Drained and tired, she chose from their number many women and gave them the power of Odyis, sealing her away into each Sorceress with fragments of her own, hoping to confine her forever, but knowing that she would return. They became Sorceresses like herself, and she briefly wondered whether, in the future, the word 'Sorceress' would be one to strike fear into the hearts of mankind.

Hyne communed with the Sorceresses, teaching them the ways of magic. She taught them to love peace, and appreciate the beauty of life. As time wore on, the years seemed to weigh heavier and heavier on her.

So she left behind the race that she came to love, dividing the rest of her powers, giving them to carefully selected women, and so loosing her wings. Hyne was no longer any different in appearance from the humans; only set apart from them by the struggles and challenges that she would to have to face and the sacrifice that she would have to make. She would return to them, in the future, when Odyis broke free of the seal. She was the Great Hyne – as the people had come to call her – and she would protect them to the ends of the earth.

~_End Prologue_~

Well? What did you think? If you're wondering why Hyne didn't just kill Odyis, it was because she didn't have the power – neither had the power to kill the other, so she did the only ting she knew how to do, which was to seal Odyis away (_How_ she did it will be explained later on).

The prologue was more of a short story than a prologue, but I think that if you liked this, then you'll probably like the rest of 'Dark Prophecy'.

Some chapters may be longer than others, depending on where I think it is best to break the story apart, so please forgive me if it gets a bit inconsistent. ^_^


	2. Chapter I: The Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters; Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartily, Zell Dincht, Irvine Kinneas, Selphie Tilmitt, Quistis Trepe, Edea Kramer, Cid Kramer, Hyne, Seifer Almasy, Laguna Loire, Kiros Seagill, Ward Zabac, Ellone, Raine, Raijin, Fujin, Watts, and Zone (or any others which I may have missed).br   
Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long to get up! Chapters will be quicker from now on - hopefully, anyway. Any comments, suggestions or queries are welcome. Please read and review! p  
centerbDark Prophecybr  
Chapter I: The Beginning/bp/center  
There is no greater grief than to recall a time of happiness when in misery.br  
-- Dante Alighieri (iDivine Comedy/i)p  
It woke at the usual time, when the sun was just peeking over the horizon, so the fading light was a pinkish grey, barely lighting the shallow cave. Shaking off the snow that had lightly coated its fur while it slept, it rose to its feet and padded outside to draw some of the crisp mountain air through its nostrils and into its vast lungs. But today, instead of performing the same routine that it had done for the last 5000 years, it merely closed its aqua eyes and sat there on its haunches, its giant bat-like wings shielding it from the harsh sting of the wind. Its ears twitched as it listened to the song of the dying sunset, but aside from that, it did not move until night had fully set in. It was only when it turned its wide, glaring eyes to the glowing circle of the moon that it knew for certain; the Age of Dreaming was almost finished. The time had come for the Dark Prophecy to be fulfilled.p  
center***/centerp  
She woke, sitting up and pushing the damp sheets away from her in disgust. The dream had come again; this time it was more pronounced than ever. Rinoa tried to rub the sleep out of her eyes, bathed in the weak ray of sunlight from the grey dawn streaming in from her window. Even in the warm atmosphere of the dormitory she felt cold, chilled by the dark figure in her dream - Ultimecia. Why did these dreams come now?br  
Trying to cast her thoughts from her mind, Rinoa stood up and walked to her closet. As she dug around for something suitable to wear, a low whine startled her; Angelo bounded from his basket in the corner and fawned ecstatically at her feet. Rinoa laughed and patted the fur on the top of his sleek head affectionately with her right hand.br  
She changed into her usual clothes and made her bed, singing softly to herself under her breath. As she straightened up to head to the cafeteria, she frowned. The song that had drifted from her lips was not one she could recall, and she could not even begin to guess where she had heard it before. Rinoa shrugged and gave Angelo's fur a brief comb before she opened the door, waiting for him to pad out before closing it securely.br   
The walk to the cafeteria was a short, uneventful one. There were two students up, a girl and a boy walking together, heading to the library in the hope of completing unfinished homework due later. They gave Rinoa the briefest of smiles, before passing her in a whiff of perfume and expensive cologne.br   
The cafeteria was almost empty, save for a familiar face seated at a table in the corner. Rinoa poured some watery-looking coffee into two Styrofoam cups and made her way carefully to the table. Setting the coffee down on the table gently, she sat down and smiled.br  
"Coffee?"br  
Quistis looked up from correcting homework. If she was startled by the sudden question, she had hidden it well. She eyed both cups and blinked before giving Rinoa an amused glance and taking the cup closer to her.br  
"Having poured two, you're not really giving me much choice."br  
Rinoa grinned and took a cautious sip at her own coffee, nearly choking, but swallowing it forcibly anyway; the liquid was lukewarm and none too pleasant. Deciding to leave her coffee for later, she set the cup back down on the table and stared into the swirling liquid, eyes lost in thought.br   
They sat in silence, the minutes ticking by on the clock above the counter. Quistis pushed her glasses slightly higher up on the bridge of her nose and sighed inwardly, marking the essay in front of her neatly with a red biro. Since she had been reinstated as an instructor, it seemed that the quality of the work handed in had gone downhill. The essays had grown longer, but the content lead absolutely nowhere, and the hastily crossed out love-hearts in the margins featuring 'M.T' or 'B.H' (the first set of initials varied) and 'Q.T' told her instantly that she was looking at the work of one of the Trepies, even without looking at the name scrawled in the upper right hand corner. Compared to the work handed in before the whole Ultimecia incident, it seemed ten times worse. Deciding to worry about it later, she took off her glasses, folding them carefully and placing them on the table. She lifted the Styrofoam cup to her lips and frowned down into the coffee. It seemed the quality of the coffee had gone downhill as well. Oh well. She gave a mental shrug and drained the cup.br  
"A penny for your thoughts?" Quistis asked, noticing the troubled expression on her friend's face. The sudden question jerked Rinoa out of her reverie.br  
"Oh… it's nothing. Just a bad night, I suppose." Rinoa thought for a moment, biting her lip. Her dark eyes focused back on Quistis' face. "After what happened three months ago, have you -"br  
"Had any dreams?" Quistis finished perhaps more sharply than she intended to. She gave Rinoa an apologetic look, who smiled and waved away her apology. "There was one that occurred on an off for about a week. Each time, I'd be in Ultimecia's castle, fighting her alongside you and…" she frowned, as though trying to remember. "…I can't remember who the third person was. As we fight, suddenly both of you disappear into the darkness, and I would be alone. And every time, Ultimecia laughs and - and pulls out my heart."br  
In the awkward silence that followed, Rinoa blinked at Quistis and shuffled her feet, toying with the half-filled cup in her hands.br  
"iAnyway/i," Quistis continued calmly, as though they had just been discussing the weather in Galbadia, "Why do you ask?"br  
Rinoa frowned into her cup. "For the past three weeks, I've been having this dream. I keep on seeing a dark shadow. Even though I never saw her face, I just know that it's Ultimecia. It's like she's angry and she's willing to do anything to have revenge."br  
"For what?" Quistis frowned. "Ending her reign of terror?"br  
"I... I'm not sure. I don't think so; she didn't seem to be angry at me… it was someone else." Rinoa gave the older woman a serious look. "You won't tell anyone else about this, will you?" br  
The blonde SeeD thought for a moment, cocking her head to one side. "You have my word," she said finally.p  
center***/centerp  
At the moment, Irvine Kinneas felt like crawling under a rock and dying; Selphie Tilmitt, the love of his life, and the girl who he had spent an hour convincing to go out with him for dinner - had broken up with him the night before. In all his life, he had never felt so wretched. Holding his head in his hands, Irvine gave an audible groan, causing the girl with the pigtails to look up from the desk.br  
"Is everything alright?"br  
Instead of flirting with her like he would have normally done, Irvine just waved her away. How was he supposed to tell Selphie that she was the only one he ever really cared about? That since she left the orphanage he had never felt the same way about another girl? How could he tell her that the flirting didn't have any real meaning? That it was just out of habit? How was he supposed to -?br  
"I thought I'd find you here." Zell's voice interrupted Irvine's thoughts. He strode briskly and sat down next to him, an odd look on his face. It was a mixture of emotions, ranging from anger to bitterness. "Heard you and Selphie broke up." There was a certain quality to his voice that said quite plainly that he was disappointed in Irvine. "Selphie deserves better, man. She's been through enough - Trabia Garden almost being destroyed, and all that."br  
Irvine frowned - this was a side of Zell that he hadn't seen before. The last time he had seen Zell being even remotely serious was when he was asking the cafeteria lady to give him the extra hot-dog.br  
"So what are you saying?" he asked in a monotone.br  
"Damn it, man!" Zell stood up and rammed his fist into the wall, sending a shower of plaster onto the floor. "Don't you get it? If Selphie really means that much to you, then you'll try to get her back, no matter what it takes!" He stalked to the doors and turned his head to look at Irvine. "Don't take my advice if you don't want to, but if you don't, then someone really dear to you may be lost forever. Now, if you'll excuse me," Zell added huffily, "I'm going to get some hotdogs." And he ran through the automatic doors, leaving a sullen Irvine to his thoughts, the girl with pigtails watching him leave, a startled expression on her face.p  
center***/centerp  
Rinoa was right, Squall thought. This coffee is bad. He moved the cup around in a circular direction, causing the watery liquid to swirl like a vortex.br  
iI should have taken the orange juice./ibr  
Rinoa suddenly waved a hand in front of his face, causing him raise his eyes to hers.br  
"Care to join in on our conversation?" she smiled encouragingly. Selphie watched him with a grin, and even Quistis allowed herself to look slightly amused.br  
"…What are you discussing?"br  
"We're not sure. We were hoping that you would suggest a topic." Rinoa's smiled sweetly and battered her eyelashes at him in mock innocence. She laughed at the clueless expression on his face and turned back to Selphie. "So - the 'Big Date' is tonight, then?"br  
Selphie's face seemed to sour slightly. "Nah. Irvy and I broke up."br  
"Really? Why? And why didn't you mention it earlier?" Rinoa demanded.br  
"I… I wasn't… It didn't…" she sighed and tried again. "He didn't really seem interested, you know? When you're with Irvine, one minute he's all over you, and the next, he's fawning over that auburn-haired SeeD in the skirt that would be too small for a ten-year old. You've seen him flirting with all the upperclassmen. I don't think he's ready for a long-term relationship, which is what I'm after."br  
There was a crackle as the intercom came on. "Would Squall Leonhart, Rinoa Heartily, Zell Dincht -" (Zell's voice could be heard from the queue. "Tch! Third in line and I still have to miss out on the hot-dogs!") "- Quistis Trepe, Irvine Kinneas and Selphie Tilmitt please go to the Headmaster's office on Level 3 as soon as possible. Thank you. That is all." There was a click, signalling the end of the message.br  
iWhat's that about?/i Squall frowned.br  
They stood up and walked from the cafeteria, a scowling Zell joining them along the way. Squall could hear him cursing under his breath.br  
"Don't take his flirting seriously, Selphie. I doubt he really means anything by it; it's probably just a cry for attention." Quistis said calmly.br  
"Wow." Selphie blinked. "You're the last person that I would have expected to say that, Quistis." At the puzzled look on Quistis' face, she explained. "You react even more to Irvine's flirting than I do; I'm surprised that you can just wave it off so quickly." Then, she grinned, seeming almost unconsciously changing the subject, but to Squall the corners of her eyes were still tense. "I wonder why Headmaster Cid needs to talk to us? Tee hee - I hope it's because they're thinking of having the Garden Festival early this year!"br  
They ascended the elevator, Selphie seeming to have forgotten about her dilemma with Irvine. Stepping into the Headmaster's office, they found Cid, Edea and a sullen Irvine waiting for them. When he saw Selphie, however, he gave her a hopeful smile and a wave, which she pointedly ignored.p  
  
iEnd Chapter I/ip  
  
Next Chapter: The mission briefing - and no, it won't take up the whole chapter. ^_^ Please read and review! 


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